Rock & Ice yere düşen karabinaların kullanımının güvenli olduğundan bahseden bir araştırma yayınladı. "Omega Pacific ayrıca El Cap in belirsiz bir yerinden düşen karabinaları da test etti. O.P.'nin araştırması düşen bir malzemenin bir taşa vurduktan sonra daha yüksek kuvvetlere dayandığını gösteriyor." Şu da not edilmeli ki Rock & Ice, Omega'nın aslında yayınladıkları makale ve alıntıya karşı olan söylemini gözden kaçırmış görünüyor. "Kayaların dibinde bulduğunuz ne olduğu belli olmayan malzemeleri kullanmayın, her ne kadar sağlam olursa olsun, bu önceliğimizdir. İkinci olarak, herhangi bir malzemeyi yukarıdan düşürdüyseniz, onu kullanmayı bırakmalısınız. Hayatınızı bir ekipmana emanet edeceğiniz zaman şüpheye yer vermemelisiniz. Ayrıca, bu profesyonelce davranmaktır da."

Nicolai Užžnik has done his first 8B, Wrestling with an Alligator in Malatal. What is interesting, he found a new beta so instead of doing the dyno and taking the swing, he just kept crimping. "I sent the boulder in my first session in Maltatal after more than 2 months without climbing because of a finger injury. I did not expect to climb it that fast because the last few holds where completely wet, so I'm really happy about that. This season didn't worked as I wanted it, due to my injury where I missed both boulder and lead European Youth Championships and now also the World Youth Championships in China.

UKC reports that William Bosi has done the seventh ascent of Ben Moon's Hubble from 1990. Moon suggested 8c+ and although none of the repeaters have suggested an upgrade some have made this speculation. Interesting is that UKC does not mention this but just state that Hubble is a 9a, meaning it being the first route of this grade in the world.

Rock & Ice has published an interesting article where they say that according to research, carabiners that have fallen to the ground are safe to use. "Omega Pacific also tested carabiners that had been dropped from unknown heights off El Cap. If anything, O.P.'s report shows that a piece of gear gets stronger while flying through the atmosphere then impacting rock—those dropped carabiners broke at loads higher than their rated strengths ." It should be noted that Rock & Ice missed out this important piece of advice from Omega which actually goes against what is said in the article and the quote. "Don’t climb on gear you salvage from the base of cliffs, regardless how sturdy our little box of kit turned out, that’s first. Second, if you drop any piece of hardware from high up, you should just retire it. When you trust your life to a piece of equipment, you don’t need the doubt. Plus, it’s a good, professional practice, anyway."

Michaela Kiersch has done her second 8c+ in Red River Gorge in 2016, Lucifer. (c) Andy Wickstrom "Sooo psyched!!!! Surprise send on one of my projects this weekend, Lucifer. It's so rewarding to know that my hustlin is paying off. I will be the first to admit that juggling school, work, and climbing has been overwhelming and challenging this year. But education is something I value deeply and I take pride in knowing that I can succeed in climbing and in school. After stuffing my face with and driving the looooong 7 hours home I snuck in some studying for this 8am exam that I'm about to take. Wish me luck!

Andy Raether, who did his first 8c+ FA out of eight 13 years ago, has done his first 9a, The Eggporkalypse in Mt Potosi. " I've been working it on and off for 6 years. I sent Reverse Polarity 14b (8c) 9 times before I sent the whole thing. When you combine the whole thing it is a 14b into an ok rest and then another 14b. It is by a magnitude the most amount of work I have put into any project. I spent a year and a half specifically working on increasing my finger strength to be able to do it as well."

Paul Robinson has done his 16th 8C, Topaz in RMNP, of which Dave Graham did the FA just two weeks ago and which has been done also Daniel Woods. "It has been crazy lately! We have been finding and developing so many new boulders in Colorado. All of which are really good quality! I am really excited about the new lines and also trying to repeat some of the old ones. Having an entire fall in Colorado has allowed me to train a bit in the gym and climb outside a lot! I am super psyched to have climbed topaz and look forward to some more."

Dave Graham, son 15 yılın en iyi tırmanıcılarından FB ve ilk 8C+ kısakaya çıkışını yaptı. Aslına bakarsanız bu dünyanın ilk doğrulanmış 8C+'sı. (c) Cameron Maier/Bearcam "WOW!!! @dawoods89'un yeni rotası Creature From the Black Lagoon'u ikinci çıkışını yaptıktan sonra dün Upper Chaos daydım!!! Bahardan bu yana 16 günlük uğraşın ardından, inanılmaz ince bir ayarla rotayı algılayabildim ki bu hana çıkışın yolunu açtı! Gerilimli ve sinir bozucu şartlar altındaki bir çok günden sonra, gece yarısı kurgularım, yüzlerce çuvallayan çözüm sonrasında anladım ki aslında çözüm en başından beri gözümün önündeymiş. Çılgın bir kol bükme acayip yoga hareketi tüm bölümü birleştirmemi sağladı, ne zamandır didindiğim alt tutuşu birleştirmeme izin verdi ve ilerlemek için ihtacım olan vücut pozisyonunu elde etmemi sağladı." Continue reading Ve son olarak: "Bu tırmanış bana uydu ve beni daha önce çıktığım tüm 8C lerden daha çok zorladı. Zaman gösterecek, ama 8C+ bana tamamen mantıklı göründü. Fotoğraf ve videolar yakında @island_io"

It is great that Nalle Hukkataival did not go for a slash grade and instead marked himself one grade above everyone. The first 8Cs were suggested some 15 years ago and even if at least a dozen 8c+s have been put forward, original 8C+s have never been confirmed, instead all have been down graded. In fact, Nalle Hukkataival has always been said to be one of the guys who keep the grades very hard and that you should use the lower grade when in doubt. It is interesting that he actually changed his mind since his grade article in 2010 which was part of the reason why we shifted from grade inflation to deflation. "Last June I did the first ascent of Livin' Large in South Africa. It is by far the hardest boulder I've climbed so far, a lot harder than any 8C that I have climbed in the past. Does that mean that it is 8C+? Maybe, just maybe. Does that mean that I should grade it 8C+? I don't think so. Why do we always have to shoot high first and then wait for the downgrade. Why is it never the other way around? I graded it 8C because I feel certain that it is at least 8C. If other people feel like it's harder, they can upgrade it. Why do people always choose the egotistical approach to these things instead of "playing it safe"? Although Hukkataival has never given an 8C+ grade for any of his Boulders, he suggested 9A for his Burden of Dreams. This must mean that he has taken into account the amount of time this project has taken and how much stronger he thinks he is now compared to last year. Furthermore, he must feel that the Boulder is very much his style. Possibly, some guys will try Burden of Dreams and think it is just one grade harder compared to some sandbagged 8Cs. Possibly they could use Hukkataival's 9A as the new standard and upgrade some of the 8Cs that deserve it. It is also interesting that Hukkataivals's 9A is much shorter then most of the 8C and 8C+ problems in the world, which are often more endurance based.